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3. Groupthink. Most people like people who remind them of themselves. Ever notice how people from your alma mater light up when they learn that you went there too? Start-up management teams are generally made up of longtime friends and buddies who have worked together before.

Truth is that the VC-backed world (VCs, as well as entrepreneurs who get their money) is very small and, therefore, clubby. This lends itself to a "way" of seeing the space that you operate in and how it will develop.

And, what happens at most start-ups if there are differences in opinion on the direction of the firm? The top dog's opinion carries the day (whether the CEO or the VC) and the other person gets in line or gets off the bus. So, over time (and multiple decisions like this), you're left with a very one-sided way of looking at the world - or groupthink on the management team. The best management teams are the ones which can actively debate issues -- and may the best logic carry the day.

Do you remember what it was like in your high school debating society? It wasn't the quarterback who won the argument, it was the best debater. All management teams should aspire to keep a healthy spirit of debate and devil's advocacy.

2. Obsession with the wrong enemy. Who are we against? Microsoft thought it was IBM/Apple and others, not the Internet. Sun thought it was HP/Dell/IBM, not Linux. Friendster thought it was dating sites, not MySpace. An enemy can focus the mind and put horse-blinders on you. So, while leading a start-up is a lot of hand-to-hand combat, the most successful leaders keep an open mind to where their next challenger will come from.

It's fun parlor-talk to imagine where the titans of today (Google, YouTube) will be blind-sided in the future. I hope, for their sake and their investors', they avoid this fate.

It is very difficult to stay vigilant against your future enemies -- especially when you consistently hear how smart and successful you are.

and

1. Not learning from your mistakes. I think God is a benevolent man (or woman). He wants us to be successful. Before we make any "blow-the-company-to-smitherines" decisions, I find he usually gives us a couple of warnings that this probably is a bad idea. However, most of the time, we ignore these. We poo-poo earlier failures or mistakes. We pump ourselves (and our employees) up with postive self-talk ("I will not make that same mistake again; I will do better next time...).

If we only did a better job at fully grasping why we previously were unsuccessful, we could adequately insulate ourselves from future repeat stumbles.

You don't have to be a VC-backed company to commit this last sin; this seems to be part of the human condition. However, we can learn to better learn.